


Underworld Love Story

by Cthonis_Princess



Series: Story Adaptions Of Gau Meo [1]
Category: Greek and Roman Mythology, Underworld Love Story (Comic)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-09-27 05:53:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 19,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9979304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cthonis_Princess/pseuds/Cthonis_Princess
Summary: This is a retelling of the myth of Hades and Persephone, following the comic of the same name. After that fateful kidnapping needless to say, Persephone wasn't happy and she and Hades get off to an extremely rough start. But after one of her escape attempts goes extremely bad, she begins to realise that maybe, Hades isn't like the gods in the stories her mother told her about.





	1. Chapter 1

**This story is dedicated to Gau Meo, the artist who gave me her permission to turn her comics into a story. She has the full credit to this storyline as well as the character designs/concepts that will appear in this story, I'm just turning her comic universe into a story.**

**Gau Meo is someone I can honestly call one of the friends I have made over the internet and she has drawn without a doubt, one of the best 'Hades and Persephone' comics I have ever seen and if you enjoy the story the link to her Tapastic account and her Facebook page is located below. Honestly though, you should check it out, you will not be disappointed.**

**https://www.facebook.com/underworldlovestory/**

**https://tapastic.com/vyphamle**

* * *

 

_Once upon a time there was a god named Hades, he was the ruler of the chthonic kingdom known to the mortals as the Underworld. One day he found himself facing a growing obsession that come day by day he discovered would only grow worse and worse to the point that he could no longer bear to stand it!_

_Desperately Hades went to his older brothers for their consultation on what he should do, and so our story began… But wait a minute, don't you want to know what it was that Hades was so obsessed about. Well, he was obsessed with a girl, or to be more specific, she was a goddess and her name was…_

"Persephone!" A young girl's voice echoed across a meadow as she searched for the goddess. "Persephone! Persephone!" Her calls ceased the minute she found the goddess working under the shade of a massive tree.

"What is it dear?" Persephone replied as she carefully placed the flowers she was holding on the ground.

"I need your help. Today is my mother's birthday and I want to give my mother this pot of flowers as a gift." She paused for a second as she glanced at the pot she was holding, "But the buds haven't bloomed in time."

Persephone crouched down and knee-length light brown hair framed her face as she squinted her spring-green eyes, as she carefully examined the plants, "Hmmm, let me see what I can do you." She raised her hand and the buds began to glow, and slowly but surely, they blossomed.

The little girl stood shocked for a minute, "Wow! That was amazing! Thank you so much!" She exclaimed.

Persephone smiled in return, "Your welcome." She took up the little girl's hand and they walked along an old, well-worn path back to the village, completely unaware that they were being watched from above.

* * *

"It's her." A young male's voice quickly stated as he watched the girls through a cloud vison on Mount Olympus, the man was none other than Hades himself.

"Are you sure." Came the reply from Poseidon as he pointed at the teenage girl.

"Well her name is Persephone." Zeus insisted, clasping his hands together as all three brothers watched the vison.

"I am." Hades replied, as he crossed his arms across his stomach.

Zeus looked at the vision again and rubbed his beard in thought, "Well she's Demeter's daughter. This is not going to be easy, I must say."

"Really? But I thought you guys are professionals." Hades said.

Poseidon awkwardly ran his fingers through his hair. "Well Demeter is a single mother, and this girl is her only child. I suppose she would be rather over protective to her daughter."

Hades turned and began to walk away saying, "Well if you can't help me, brothers. Then I should ask Aphrodite for her advice."

Zeus quickly ran up to Hades and casually slung his arm across his younger brother's shoulders. "Woah! Woah! Hold up for just a minute. We said it's not easy, we didn't say it was impossible. That blonde can do nothing for you, brother!" Zeus pulled away from Hades before he continued, "While we have plenty of tricks to get girls."

Poseidon grinned, pointing to Zeus and himself. "Yeah! We're the masters of womanising! Of course, we have tricks that could get you any girl you want."

"Tricks?" Hades said almost wearily, as he glanced at both of his older brothers.

Zeus nodded enthusiastically, "For this type of girl, I'd suggest you use your shapeshifting powers to approach her and- "

Zeus was cut-off midsentence as Hades quickly exclaimed, "No! I won't turn into cattle or a bird! It's embarrassing!" He crossed his arms, fighting off an oncoming blush.

Poseidon rolled his eyes, "Oh, come on! As long as it works, who cares about embarrassment?"

Suddenly, an idea entered Zeus' head, "Hey! How about some drastic measures? Seems pretty fit to your style, huh?"

Poseidon frowned slightly, "Like…abducting?"

Hades stood there in thought. Abducting Persephone wouldn't be that hard; he knew that there were days when she worked alone. He glanced at the vision again, seeing her dancing to Pan's music with the villagers, sealed his decision. "Hmmm, if you two think so…"

* * *

_On the next day, while Persephone was wondering in the forest, picking flowers as she went. When suddenly the earth began to shake violently, opening into a dark chasm that led into the depths of the earth. To her horror the ground beneath her feet followed suit and, she fell screaming._

"Nooooo!"

As she fell into the earth, her fingers scrambled to try and grab hold of… well… anything that would stop her from falling any deeper. She heard something that almost resembled thunder, and then she heard the whinnying of horses.

Despite her panic she saw for pure black steeds pulling an equally dark chariot. Driving the chariot was a helmeted and cloaked figure. In a single swift motion the driver took one hand off the reigns, held their arm out and caught Persephone. She learnt that the driver must've been a male when she heard him urge the horses on. It was in that moment she realised she was being abducted.

Instinctively, she screamed. "No! No! Mother, help me!"

As they disappeared into the darkness of the earth, she gave one final scream of "MOTHER!"

In a nearby pasture, every single one of Demeter's instincts told her something was wrong. An image flashed through her mind and a single name came to her lips. "Persephone?"


	2. Chapter 2

Meanwhile down in the Underworld, Persephone was slowly beginning to wake up, she shock of being abducted had caused her to black out from fear. She coughed slightly and the first thing she noticed was how cold it was. Trembling she ran her hands up and down her bare arms, whispering “It’s freezing.”

Suddenly a large snout entered her line of sight blowing warm air across her face. “Huh?” Curiously she glanced up only to find herself facing a large dog… with _three_ heads. It excitedly barked when she noticed him, only to cause Persephone to scramble backwards, “S-stay away.” She stuttered with fear.

She suddenly became aware that she wasn’t the only _person_ when she heard the voice of a man exclaim, “Wow, she’s so pretty!”

Persephone followed the voice to find herself staring at a robed _skeleton_ and a woman who was a human from the waist up, but where the human legs should’ve been, there was _six spider legs_. Terror stricken at being in such an unfamiliar situation she scrambled backwards again and exclaimed, “What are you.”

Her scrambling came to an abrupt halt when she realised her back was leaning against someone’s legs. Glancing upwards she was slightly relieved to see, that yes, this man looked human.

The man she was leaning against help a bident in his right and was dressed in dark black and pants with a dark layered full body cloak; she couldn’t see his face because of the helmet he was wearing but she could tell he had pure white hair and porcelain coloured skin. Standing behind was those four dark black horses, still attached to the chariot. The fear came back in full swing when she realised the figure was the man who had abducted her in the first place. 

Persephone’s voice trembled as she asked, “W…who a…are you?”

The man replied to her question in an emotionless tone of voice. “I am Hades.”

“W…where is this place? Why am I here?”

“Persephone. This is the Underworld; I am the king of this realm.” While he was speaking, Persephone managed to get to her feet, her eyes narrowed and she clenched her fist when she heard him say, “From now on this place is _your_ home. You’re going to stay here and be my w-...” 

WHACK!!!

Suddenly his vision blurred, and Hades suddenly became aware of a fist colliding with his jaw, cutting him off midsentence. As he tried to think through the pain he heard his helmet hitting the ground behind him and he could hear Charon and Arachne’s collective gasps. His hair fell loose around his face now that his helmet was off, and he cautiously checked his nose and lips for blood before he turned and faced Persephone wearily. She was, in a word, _livid._

“You sick bastard!” She screeched at him, “How dare you kidnap me! How dare you force me to stay here!” She paused momentarily for breath, “I am the daughter of the great goddess Demeter! I am a goddess.!” 

She stormed right up to him and jabbed her finger into his chest. “I’m not like the other pathetic nymphs or mortal girls for you sick gods to play as toys. Do you think I am so naïve that I don’t know who you are? Brother of Zeus.”

She moved her finger from his chest and pointed at his throat as he glanced down at her. “You and your brothers are exactly what my mother said! A bunch of assholes who do nothing but kidnap and rape innocent women!”

Hades could honestly admit that he loved his older brothers, but to be compared to them was where he drew the line, Persephone’s comments had sparked his defensive reflexes, and he felt himself begin to frown. “Enough! No one has ever spoken to me like that! I repeat, you are staying here! In the Underworld! With me! End of discussion!”

Persephone glowered, she yelled in return, “I’d rather _die_ than spend one day with you!”

“Fine! Then…” In a sudden movement Hades hand began to glow as he summoned up his powers. “I’ll let you die in prison!” He aimed his hand straight at her.

Persephone braced herself, watching the blast of power surround her, only to realise that it was dissolving into the floor and ceiling causing stalactites and stalagmites to grow around her, building a prison of sorts. As soon as the shock wore off she grabbed a hold of one and the bars, muttering, “You… dare…” She didn’t get a chance to form a sentence as Hades shot her a remorseful look and then turned around.

“Good night.” Hades said in an irritated tone of voice as he walked away.

“No!” Persephone wept as she slowly collapsed to the floor, “Why did this happen to me?” She couldn’t hold the tears back anymore. “Mother, please help me.”

Charon and Arachne turned away from the sight of the young goddess’ weeping and exchanged sympathetic glances with one another as they walked away.

Likewise Hades fought the uncomfortable way his heart clenched as he heard Persephone’s weeping.

* * *

 

Hades stood on the balcony of his bedroom after changing into a light blue chiton and a black himation, deep in thought. _‘How could have things turned out this way’_ He thought to himself.

“My lord,” came a soft weary voice from the doorway of the balcony. “May I have a word?”

Hades didn’t turn towards Arachne, simply nodding his assent. “What is it.” He said softly

She stood behind him and awkwardly wringed her hands, “It’s about Lady Persephone my lord. She punched you and shouted at you, and that’s unacceptable I know. But… she’s experienced a tough day. She’s been taken away from her home and her mother, brought to a whole different world. She might need time to get used to this new life.”

Hades felt that uncomfortable clench in his heart again, he stood there silently for a minute or two, before softly replying, “What do you suggest?”

Arachne smiled, relieved that Hades had seen her point of view. “I think… You should bring her to the room you have prepared for her.”

Persephone sat dejectedly on the floor of her ‘prison’, having cried herself out. She started playing a game of knucklebones with a small pebble she found. She sat up straighter and dropped her pebble when she heard the sound of footsteps coming towards her. She tensed slightly the moment she realised that it was Hades, and was rather surprised when he made a ‘come hither’ motion with his fingers and the bars parted, forming a doorway.

Hades stepped in and as he gazed down on her, his gaze softened “Come on! I’ll bring you inside.” He said offering her his hand.

 


	3. Chapter 3

There was about 3.5 seconds before Hades vision was suddenly assaulted with a colourful assortment of flowers. “What the…?”

“Get out!” She snapped coldly, “I’m serious, get lost!” He immediately shot his gaze towards Persephone, who had her had outstretched towards him, instantly he realised she had used her own powers on him.

“You...” He was that annoyed that he couldn’t even think of a sentence.

“I’m not staying down here in the Underworld.” Persephone snapped, her hand raised in warning. “I want to go home.”

“I thought I told you this wasn’t open for discussion, you’re staying here." 

“And I told you that I’d rather die!”

He opened his mouth to say something else until he saw the way Persephone’s glare deepened, instead he simply shook the petals off his face and out of his hair. It was obvious she wasn’t going to co-operate with him any time soon. He stormed forwards and scooped her up into his arms.

She reacted in the way anyone would react to suddenly being picked up. “Put me down!” She screamed at him, trying to worm her way out of his grip, “How dare you touch me!”

Somehow she managed to manoeuvre herself to the point where Hades was now holding onto her hips and thighs as she tried to make him let her go. “Let me go you pervert!”

He stormed through the courtyard, the palace and into a room. He marched her right up to the bed, “Hey, Hey! What are you doing?” She desperately tried worming her way out. “Let go!”

She got what she wanted when Hades unceremoniously dumped her face first onto the bed, “Ouch!” She sat up to see that Hades was already halfway to the door, “Grrr, did you really have to throw me down like that?”

She quickly grabbed a pillow and pegged it at him, “You insolent prick!” She stormed right up behind him and kicked the door shut.

She heard the sound of Hades tumbling to the ground and then she heard him yell “Damn it!”, and faintly heard the sound of him walk away from her room.

She tried to open the door, only to realise that he must have locked it from the outside, “I hate you! White haired ape!”

Arachne, who had been watching from a safe distance from the two gods had only one thought in her mind, _‘Oh god’_.

* * *

 

After a month of searching had passed, Demeter finally decided to return to her temple in Eleusis, exhausted and alone, when a farmer informed her of what he had seen.

Demeter furiously threw the cup she was holding the minute a mortal farmer informed her. “What did you say? Hades is the one who abducted my daughter!” She yelled.

“Yes M’lady.” The farmer replied, kneeling before the Harvest goddess.

“That bastard… How dare he… I will murder him if he even thinks about touching Persephone!”

Pan quickly grabbed a hold of Demeter’s hand, “My lady, please control your rage. Don’t you remember that Hades is one of the big three? He is more dangerous than any other god of Olympus. And his kingdom is forbidden, even to a goddess like you.” 

Pan’s word had helped sooth Demeter’s fury as she spoke softly. “But… I can’t let her suffer in that horrible place.”

“Let us bring her back to you!” Everyone in the palace whipped around to see two young looking men, one was dark haired, while the other had pale golden hair.

“Who the heck are these guys?” Demeter said.

The dark haired young man stepped forwards and bowed before the goddess. “I am Theseus, son of Poseidon. King of Athens.”

The other young male, likewise bowed and introduced himself. “And I am Pirithous, son of Zeus. King of Lapiths. Both males finished with. “At your service.” 

_‘Demigods.’_ Demeter thought to herself, she crossed her arms across her chest. “You heard what Pan said. Hades and his kingdom are both terrible. How could you be sure that you could rescue my daughter?”

“M’lady! We carry the blood of two of the mightiest gods of all. We are the strongest warriors in Greece.” Theseus replied, bowing all the while.

Pirithous placed his fist against his heart. “Nothing can stand in our way!”

Demeter placed her hands behind her back, “Hmmm, then what’s your price? Money or food? How much do you want?” 

Pirithous bowed, “My great goddess, we are kings. We do not need such things from you.” He paused for breath, “I’ve heard about Persephone, her beauty could rival Aphrodite’s they say. I only have one wish, when I bring Persephone back you will give me your permission… to _marry_ her!” 

Demeter made a tiny chocked sound in the back of her throat, “This-“ 

Pan cut off her sentence, “My lady! Can we trust these men?” He whispered to her.

Demeter turned her attention to him, “But Persephone must be frightened and alone down there.” She paused blinking the tears out of her eyes before continuing, “What if that bastard does something… to her? How could I live?”

She straightened up and turned to Pirithous, “I agree! You two bring her back to me safe and sound! Then she will be your wife!”

Pirithous bowed one final time to the goddess, “Thank you m’lady!” 

* * *

 

Arachne walked down the hallway and upon noticing the doors were open, walked into Hades room. “The horses have arrived sire.” 

“Hmmm.” Hades mumbled to himself as he was in the process of attaching on the clasps that held his cloak to his amour.

“Hope there will be less deceased people today,” Arachne said cheerfully. “You’ve been working so hard recently.” 

Hades smoothed his clothes and turned around, finally noticing the fact that Arachne was carrying a tray of food. “What is that? I’ve already had breakfast.” He said, slightly confused.

Arachne beamed, “My lord, this tray is for Lady Persephone. I was thinking that today, you could bring it to her room? She’d really appreciate that.”

Hades briefly considered doing just that, at least until he tried to picture it in his mind’s eye and realised that she’d probably hit him again. “No! It would be better if you do it.”

In a fluid motion he turned and grabbed his helmet, before running down the stairs. “I won’t let myself get hit in the face again!” 

* * *

 

Persephone watched from her bedroom window as Hades ran across the courtyard and left with his horses. She was relieved to finally be awake to see what happens when he left, usually she was asleep and would wake up to a tray of food on the bedside table and a palace devoid of life. For the past month and a half, she’d made it her personal mission to avoid Hades at all costs.

“That prick, where’s he going.” She said to herself, trying to work out where he must be going.

“He’s going to the Judgement Chamber, that’s where he works, judging the deceased souls.” A soft voice answered.

Persephone whipped around, surprised by the fact that she was no longer alone. There stood the half-human, half-spider woman, holding a silver tray of food. “My lady, please have some food.”

Persephone walked over and knelt on her bed, as the woman came over and placed the tray next to her, “Thank you, for bringing me food every morning. You’re such a kind woman.” Persephone picked up a piece of feta and a piece of bread.

Arachne smiled warmly, awkwardly rubbing her arm, “Well it’s my duty to take care of you.”

Persephone frowned slightly, “Though I don’t even know your name.”

“I’m Arachne, the maid.” Arachne answered.

“Well thank you Arachne. By the way who is the skeleton? I haven’t seen him since the day I first came here.” Persephone said softly as she picked up the cup of water.

“That’s Charon, the ferryman of the River Styx, he’s usually busy rowing the boat." 

“And the three headed dog?”

“His name is Cerberus, the guard dog of the Underworld and the king’s pet.” Arachne explained. “Don’t worry my lady. We may look horrid, but we will never harm you.”

Persephone sighed softly, “I guess you’re right, there’s only _him_ who wants to harm me.”

* * *

“Theseus… I can’t stand it anymore.” Pirithous murmured as he wrapped his full body cloak tighter around him.

“Keep it down Pirithous, we’re almost there. This is the only way to sneak into this horrid realm without getting caught.” Theseus whispered in return, turning to face his friend. 

“I know but… sitting in the middle of these corpses is disgusting.” Pirithous mewled.

Pirithous and Theseus were on the middle of Charon’s ferry, surrounded by decaying corpses. It had taken the boys about two weeks before they’d finally found an entrance into the Underworld inside a cavern.

It was completely silent out on the River Styx, that the only sound was Charon’s rowing and the faint sound of their breathing.

They must have dozed of at some point because the next thing they knew, they were at the other side of the river and the deceased were filing off the boat and walking towards the top of the small hill where judgement took place.

“Well here we are.” Theseus whispered as Pirthous turned around to make sure they hadn’t been noticed. 

Despite their position at the bottom of the hill they could see the judgement, as well as the judges themselves, well. 

Theseus’ attention fell on the young man holding a bident, “Is that Hades..? Wow.” He fell silent and rubbed his chin for a minute as he gave the god’s appearance a onceover, “He’s actually… kinda cute.” Theseus finished, blushing madly.

Pirithous was silent as his mind worked out what his best friend had just said. “Focus man! We’re here for Persephone, not Hades!” He yelled as they walked away from the boat.

Their blood ran cold as Charon yelled at them. “Hey! You two get back here!”


	4. Chapter 4

‘Damn we’re busted.’ Pirithous thought to himself as they turned around to face Charon.

“Y…Yes?” Theseus stuttered, sweating profoundly.

“You two haven’t paid for the sail. Two coins now!” Charon yelled, one hand on his hip, the other holding his oar.

Pirithous breathed a long sigh of relief, “Well of course.” They walked up to Charon and placed three drachma into his outstretched hand, “There you go, and one more for the tip.”

“Hey bro, can I ask you something?” Theseus smiled as Charon bit the coins to make sure that they were real. “Do you know where Hades lives?”

“Of course I do, he lives in his palace with his new lady companion, it’s on the highest mountain in the centre of the Fields of Asphodel.” Charon replied putting the coins away.

“Sweet!” Theseus shared a smile with Pirithous. They knew where Persephone was now!

“Why do you ask such a thing anyway?” Charon asked cautiously.

Pirithous and Theseus laughed awkwardly, “Well honestly…” Pirithous began.

“We are his biggest fans… we’ve always dreamed of meeting him in person and… ask him for an… autograph.” Theseus finished for him.

“Really? That’s…cool! Normally humans are scared of him.” Charon said as all three of them glanced up towards the god in question, and he watched as the two young men walked away from him on their way to Asphodel.

* * *

 

Arachne lingered in the door, watching Persephone stare out the window, “Lady Persephone, may I speak with you?”

Persephone startled, turning around to face the maid, “Sure I guess so.”

Arachne walked over and sat on the bed, she looked over Persephone’s long hair. “You have such lovely hair, may I braid it.”

Persephone didn’t say anything, instead she wordlessly grabbed her comb and handed it to Arachne.

It was silent between the two girls as Arachne gently started brushing the end of Persephone’s hair. “I’ve been busy with my duties, so I’ve been wondering what you do all day?” Arachne asked.

“Not much, mostly wondering the hallways of the palace, seeing that I’m not allowed outside.” Persephone sighed.

“Have you found the library?” Arachne asked as she untangled a knot.

Persephone turned slightly, “There’s a library? Where is it?” Persephone enquired excitedly.

“It’s near the dining hall, it’s quite easy to recognise by the doors, they’re made of black marble. Hades usually works in there because it doubles as the archive. If you want to go in there you’ll have to talk to Hades.” Arachne replied, putting the brush down. “He usually keeps it locked.”

“I guess that must be one of the things that make him evil, always trying to keep people out.” Persephone said, turning towards the window.

“Lord Hades isn’t evil.” Arachne said as she sat on the bed braiding Persephone’s hair.

“Kidnapping an innocent woman, then forcing her to stay down here is not evil?” Persephone murmured softly, keeping her head bowed.

“It’s just because he’s confused. He’s been alone for hundreds of years in the Underworld. He’s forgotten how to treat a lady nicely.” Arachne replied.

“That’s not an excuse.” Persephone responded. “Please, I don’t want to talk about him anymore.”

“Yes my lady.” Arachne said as the tied off the braid. So got up and walked out of the door, “I’ll be right out here making new dresses for you. If you need anything, just call me alright?”

“Alright, thank you Arachne.” She waited until she heard Arachne close the door before curling up and sobbing again. She couldn’t help but think of Demeter again. “Mother please come save me.”  She wept.

“She must be in here.” A young sounding man said from outside her window. “I can smell the fragrance of flowers.”

“Who’s there?” Persephone yelled, sitting up and facing the window.

A cloaked figured appeared, grabbing onto her windowsill, “Theseus, she’s in here!” Another cloaked figure appeared next to the first figure, who was pulling his hood back to reveal a young man.

“W..who are you?” She shrieked.

The first figure climbed in through the window before turning to help his friend. “I’m Pirithous and this is Theseus.”

“Did my mother send you two down here to rescue me?” She trying to fight off the rising hope.

“Yes milady.” Pirithous said sitting in front of her, holding her hand.

“Oh, thank the fates. I thought I was going to be trapped down here forever.” Persephone said, sighing with immense relief.

Theseus pulled his cloak off and draped it across her shoulders, “We have to leave immediately, milady.” He said urgently.

“He’s right, we have leave before Hades finds out.” Pirithous said resting holding her hands. Pirithous climbed out the window and both boys helped her climb out.

* * *

Meanwhile Arachne had finished making the dress and entered Persephone’s room, “My lady would you like to try on the new dress?” She suddenly became aware that Persephone was no longer in the room. “Oh No! Where is she?!”

She immediately began searching the room just in case Persephone had fallen and knocked herself out, but she wasn’t in the room or the private bathroom that was a part of the room. Needless to say that by now Arachne was panicking, “Persephone! Where are you?”

* * *

“Quick this way!” Theseus stage whispered as soon as he checked to make sure the coast was clear.

They immediately began scrambling down the mountain path that led to the palace.

“So why did my mother send you guys to come rescue me?” Persephone asked as the climbed down the mountain.

“Your mother’s a goddess, so therefore she can’t enter Hades realm without his permission so she couldn’t come get you herself. Being the mortal sons of Poseidon and Zeus, we can enter and exit the Underworld, so Pirithous and I volunteered to be the ones to get you out.” Theseus explained.

“Why did you two volunteer, you don’t even know me? Did she offer you a reward?” Persephone responded, glancing at the two demigods.

“Because we felt bad for Demeter, no mother should have to lose their child.” Pirithous stated, resting his arm across Persephone’s shoulder as he helped her down a ledge. “We rejected the idea of an award because we are kings, and your mother gave her blessing that if we rescued you from Hades, I’d have her permission to marry you.” Pirithous said softly.

Persephone fell silent, her mother was actually allowing her to get married! She honestly didn’t know what to think if she were honest. Demeter herself had refused to get married and encouraged her daughter to do the same.

Persephone looked at Pirithous, she honestly wouldn’t mind being married to him, with his blonde hair, blue eyes and youth he was rather handsome, in a mortal way of course. That was the issue she had with the idea of marrying Pirithous, he was a mortal and Persephone didn’t like the idea of marrying someone who would grow old and die, while she stayed young and deathless for eternity.

By this point of time they had reached to base of the mountain and a massive problem raised upon them. “Wait a minute.” Pirithous said glancing around.

“What’s wrong?” Persephone said as she looked up at them.

He glanced around, “I…I forgot the way back to the river.” Pirithous said as he held his chin in thought.

“What?!” She shrieked, looking at Pirithous in horror.

“Is it this way, or that way.” Pirithous said as he scanned the landscape, trying to recognise anything.

“It’s pitch black down here and there’s nothing but sand and rock. It’s hard to remember the way, you know.” Theseus said to Persephone.

‘Urgh, these guys.’ Persephone thought to herself as the boys tried to remember the way out.

Her heart came dangerously close to stopping when she heard, “Go to the north, pass one more mountain and you’ll find the riverbank.”

Pirithous snapped his fingers, unaware of how Persephone had begun to cringe in fear, “That’s it!” He turned to Theseus, “You just said that, didn’t you?”

Theseus stared past Pirithous in a state of shock and fear.  
“No I did.”

Pirithous slowly and cautiously turned around, there standing behind the trio holding a bident, stood Hades.


	5. Chapter 5

**Gau Meo herself actually wrote the scene in this chapter where Persephone and Arachne are talking and the library scene that occurs in this chapter. We were going over story plans and decided to add in a scene that didn't occur in the comic, so we were discussing it and it was late yesterday that she sent me what she'd written and it was so well written, all I had to do was edit a bit of wording and the grammar (English isn't her first language) and upload the first half of it.**

* * *

 

 

Charon stood behind him, arms akimbo. It took them a few seconds to realise that he must have dobbed them in to Hades.

"Hades!" All three of them exclaimed in shock.

"You two…" Hades began, "Dare sneak into my realm?" He finished with controlled anger.

"Yes we did!" Theseus yelled furiously.

"We aren't afraid of an evil god like you!" Pirithous yelled.

Persephone instinctively pulled her cloak closer to her body and slowly moved out of the way.

"We are demigods, sons of the mighty Zeus, and the mighty Poseidon!" Theseus yelled, pulling his sword out of it's sheath.

"And we took order form the great goddess Demeter to bring Lady Persephone home!" Pirithous yelled, throwing his cloak off and pulling his sword out.

'My brothers bastards, huh?' Hades frowned as he thought to himself as the two demigods got into a defensive stance.

He took a deep breath, "Calm down my nephews, we're family so why are you being so serious?" Hades held his arms in what could easily be a welcoming stance. "Let Uncle Hades…" He smiled innocently as he slowly reached behind him, "…Give you a warm welcome." He snapped his fingers, "Erinyes!"

From the shadows behind Hades came three women, but they did not look like women, for a start, they had scaled skin, bat like wings, a long tail, sharp claws, a mouthful of sharp teeth, a snakelike tongue and had writhing snakes in place of their hair. In other words they were a sight to see and tremble before.

"Take care of them!" Hades yelled at them.

"With pleasure, my lord!" Alecto, the eldest, hissed in reply.

Pirithous and Theseus were paralysed with fear, "What are they?!" They yelled in union.

In a quick fluid movement, the Erinyes were upon the boys and sank their claws into their skin, their hair hissed and writhed at their faces. They boys screamed, not just out of pain, but out of shock and fear.

Hades just stood there, silently glaring at the boys as Persephone herself, though clearly unaffected, screamed in shock as the Erinyes began to carry the boys off.

"No!" She screamed, as she watched the Erinyes and the boys disappeared into the darkness of the Underworld. She whipped around to face Hades, "How could you do that? They're your nephews! All they did was try to help me get out of here!"

'Don't worry, they're going to be fine.' Hades thought.

"That's their guilt." He said as he avoided looking her in the eyes. "How dare they attempt to get you out of my Underworld, without my permission." He rested his hand on her shoulder. "Now… Let me return you to the palace."

Persephone glowered, "Don't touch me!" She slapped his hand off her shoulder, "I can walk by myself!" She turned and began to storm up the stairs that led to the palace.

"Hmmm, seems like the lady hates you even more now, my lord." Charon said as he watched Persephone walk away.

Hades sighed, "I don't care!" He turned and crossed his arms across his chest, but Charon could read him like a scroll. He knew that Hades did care about the fact that Persephone hated him, he could see it in his eyes.

* * *

 

"Arachne, I've been thinking about what you told me the other day. Why does Hades keep the library locked? I mean you said that he only opens the library when he works in there. Why is he so selfish? Does he not want to share the books with everybody else?" Persephone muttered in annoyance.

Persephone was still angry about him stopped her from escaping from the underworld with Theseus and Pirithous the other day. She was even more furious when she recalled his cold, ruthless expression when he witnessed the Erinyes crawling and dragging the two heroes away.

"He is such a cold and heartless creature!" she thought.

"It's not what you think milady. His lordship keeps many important, some are classified, documents of the underworld inside that library. That's why it cannot be opened for everyone. What if somebody took advantage of it and stole those documents?" Arachne gently explained.

"However, He never says 'No' to us when we want to come and seek for knowledge in the library. If you'd like to read some books, just come and ask him for permission milady" Arachne added cheerfully.

"But…" Persephone mumbled to herself, her imagination had already drawn a picture of her sitting in the library with…HIM? "…I still can't stand seeing his face" she hissed.

Arachne rolled her eyes, sighing, "Well… Then I have nothing say." Then the servant girl left Persephone alone in the balcony.

Standing alone, Persephone gazed down at the dark, cold world in front of her. She thought about her beloved Upperworld, her mother, her friends, and her people. By the gods, she missed them so much, she simply couldn't bear the idea of leaving forever.

No! She had to go back, she had to do whatever it takes to find the way back home, on her own. No more weeping, no more waiting for someone to come to rescue her. Her mother taught her to be strong and independent. She must not let her mother down. Persephone took a deep breath, gather her strength, then walked toward the library.

* * *

 

In the library, Hades was working. Piles of books placed on top of his desk, some rolls laid scattered everywhere. They were death reports from the judges, mine exploitation records and trading contracts of minerals with Prometheus and Hephaestus. Unlike his party animal brothers, who seemed to care about nothing but their own personal amusement, and let their work be done by their juniors, Hades had to govern the Underworld all on his own and he had keep it in perfect order.

Sinking his mind in the numbers and charts of the latest report about death, Hades suddenly heard a small knock on the door. Naturally he thought it was Arachne, she usually came around this time and ask if he need a snack or some sort, so he quickly replied, "Come in, Arachne!"

The person who knocked pushed the door and came in. But it wasn't Arachne, it was Persephone. Hades arched his brows in surprise. He didn't expect her to come to him, especially after he had 'accidentally' made her hate him more with the punishment he'd delivered to Theseus and Pirithous.

"Persephone" He said, trying to keep his voice emotionless.

Persephone walk to the centre of the room, still held the grumpy face. Her gaze fell to the ground as she muttered "Guess what?" She snapped, crossing her arms across her chest. "I'm bored!"

"Oh! As if I didn't already notice that, Persephone." Hades responded by standing up and started walking to her.

Persephone's eyes widened in enormous surprise, her jaw slightly dropped. Hades was wearing nothing but a black toga clasped in his right shoulder, revealing a generous view of his well sculpted bare chest and muscular arms. His skin was shone like it was made from ivory, and Persephone swore she could see it slightly glowing in the dark.

Sure, Persephone had seen many half naked men before, she wasn't that innocent and naïve even though she was proudly still a maiden, but none of those mens' or even gods' bodies could be compared to the one standing in front of her.

His body was the very definition of natural male perfection. She blushed heavily and quickly averted her eyes away from him, trying so hard to keep her arrogant demeanour.

But by then it was too late, Hades caught the change in his beloved goddess' face and quickly took advantage of it. He folded his arms in front of his chest, "So what can I do for you my dear?" He asked, then cocked his head and smirked to Persephone "Besides making you uncomfortable with my sense of fashion."

Sarcasm was a famous trait that ran through his family, and Hades was not an exception.

Persephone's gut was filled with nothing but embarrassment and anger, but she had to stay focused. She must not let this stupid girlish thing stand in her way of escaping. The young goddess held her head high, her eyes focused on anything else but his face and his… his stupidly perfect body. She started, "I would like some books, please. Ones that are written about the Underworld."

Hades looked at her uncomfortable posture and decided not to mock her anymore. He pointed to the giant bookshelf in the right corner of the library, "You can find all kinds of books about the Underworld in that shelf. Except the classified of course," he added, "You can only see them if you become Queen."

Persephone grimaced at Hades when he spoke those last words, "Queen? Sorry but I'm really just not into the idea of wearing a heavy crown and sitting still like a statue all day next to someone." She'd seen her Aunt Hera do that every time she attended a course on Olympus. She didn't mean any offence to her beloved aunt, but she always felt like Hera was Zeus' some sort of accessory. And the last thing Persephone want to do in her immortal life was being someone's accessory.

Persephone walked to the library and started to find a book about geography of the Underworld, she needed to find a map, a direction to the gates that opened to the Upperworld. Hades' gaze followed the small figure of his beloved goddess. He shook his head, failing to understand why that small lovely head could contain such enormous amount of pride and stubbornness. Then he returned to his working table and simply let her be.


	6. Chapter 6

**Like I mentioned in the last chapter the library scene was written Gau Meo herself and this is the second half of the chapter, all I had to do was edit a bit of wording and the grammar (English isn't her first language) and upload it.**

* * *

Persephone beamed with hope when she found a scroll which contained all maps of the Underworld, from the whole view to each part of it. She quickly brought it to the light source for better view. However, the only light source were Hades candles. There's no fireplace in the room, suddenly Persephone realized how cold the air was. 'What the heck is wrong with this guy?' She thought, 'Working in this cold atmosphere with no fireplace and wearing only that toga. Stop! stop thinking about it.' Persephone shook her head, hold the scroll tight and started to walk to the door.

"Where are you going?" Hades' voice behind her.

Persephone stopped but she didn't turn around. She casually replied, "To my room, I need a table and a light source."

"I'm sorry my dear but you can't take books out of this library" Hades informed her.

"What? Why?" This time she turned around with a very surprised, and rather confused face.

"It's the rules!" Hades explained shortly. That wasn't even an explanation at all.

"But…where will I… FINE!" Persephone tended to bargain but she decided to stop because it would damage her pride. She looked around the room, there was a stone couch, 'Seriously? Stone? Is Hades an amphibian or something? Can't he feel cold?' placed at the right wall, quite near the candle light. Great! A very good seat!

Wait…was that…Cerberus sleeping on it?

Persephone growled slightly and moved to Cerberus. She hoped she could make him leave the couch.

"Cerby! Nice doggie! Can you move a little so I can sit here?" Persephone talked to the dog, while she was pushing him aside. The gigantic three headed dog was sleeping like he was dead. He had been chasing runaway souls all day and now he was exhausted. He laid there like a stone and Persephone with her goddess strength, which wasn't much stronger than a mortal man, tried in vain to move him an inch. Cerberus was only snoring louder in returned.

Hades watched the scene with great amusement. Seeing Persephone dealing with the dog was so funny that he could not focus on his work anymore.

After many tries with different methods, Persephone still couldn't make Cerberus leave the couch. Sighed in disappointment, Persephone gave in. She glanced at Hades, who witnessed her entire struggle but didn't do anything. That prick!

The goddess muttered something inaudible, she was calculating other solutions. The first one was sitting on the floor which was as cold as ice. Plus, how could a goddess like her sit on the floor like a homeless person? Too much damage for her pride. The second solution was asking Hades if he wanted to exchange his seat for Cerberus' couch. His chair looked extremely comfortable and surely he could move Cerberus out of the couch. He was the dog's owner and he was much stronger than her. All Persephone had to do was killing her pride and asking him. 'Easy right! Are you crazy? NO! NEVER!' Then there was only one option left, standing right where she was and reading the scroll. Persephone's mind was sour like lemon thinking about that option. Fine! She would stand, do whatever it takes to return home, remember?

Thus, Persephone chose to stand and read the scroll. Damn! The scroll turned out to be quite heavy and big. She struggled to keep it still and hold it close enough to read. Her hands started to get fatigue. Her bare feet started to go numb on this ice-cold floor. Her body started to tremble under the cold air. Screw this world and this miserable situation!

"Persephone!" Hades gently called her. He had enough watching her silly stubbornness hurting her.

"I can offer you a seat" He continued.

Persephone looked at him with suspicion "Where?"

"My lap!"

If Persephone was drinking something, she would have splattered it all over the floor. She fumed with anger, "You sick pervert!"

"If you think clearer, you will know this is a great offer. Sitting here on my lap can bring you a good seat with proper light source. Moreover, you won't have to hold that scroll on your arms. That scroll seems rather heavy. Besides, I can provide you warmness. Don't worry! if I wanted to do something…perverted to you I would have already did it the moment you came in." He rested his chin on his knuckle and explained.

One side of Persephone's mind told her to throw the scroll in her hands to that pervert's face immediately and leave. However, the other side told her to take the offer because his words kind of make sense. She needed to read this scroll, to find out the way out of this world. And a very small part of her mind, no her heart, felt that she wanted to take the offer.

After standing there staring at Hades for about 10 minutes and calculating everything. Persephone finally spoke, "If you even think about touching me, I'll make your life a complete and utter hell!"

"Alright! I swear!" Hades smiled and raised his hand.

Slowly Persephone approached him, fully alarmed. Her eyes never leave his. She put the scroll on the table, next to his papers then slowly, very slowly sit on his lap. Hades only moved a little to make Persephone sit more comfortable, no hands were on her.

Persephone sit like an alarmed bird, fully prepared to fly away. Though she hated to admit but sitting on his lap was much better than standing on the floor. His body was so warm and soft. Persephone tried to focus on reading the scroll. Thank the Fates she didn't face him and… his abs, but it still hard as hell to concentrate.

'Focus! I can do it! I'm just using him! Screw him!' She kept replaying that in her mind.

Finally, she could go back to study the maps in the scroll. 'Man! Too many maps!' But Persephone was a smart goddess. It took her a little time to figure out which map showed the way to the underworld gate. She devoured every detail of it, tried to keep them in mind as many as she can.

Suddenly she flinched, Persephone was afraid that Hades might notice what kind of scroll she was reading. She glanced at him. To her surprise, he didn't pay any attention at her, or her scroll. Instead, he was busy reading his papers and writing some notes. Now it was Persephone's turn to be curious about what kind of papers he was working on. Her eyes secretly gazed on the papers. They were about some special courses which the judges could not decide the final sentences for the death souls. Thus, they suspended them and sent the detailed report to Hades to decide.

Her gaze slowly went from the paper to his face. She mindlessly analysed his facial features. He was beautiful, admittedly, one of the most handsome god she'd ever seen. Somehow she felt like he was even more handsome than Apollo, Mount Olympus' sweetheart.

Persephone's mind drifted back to the day when she first met him. Yes! She had met him before, when she was a little girl. Back then, he was younger, his hair was shorter and…she glanced down to his arm, he was less muscular. Back then, she remembered, he was like a youngster at 20 something- though he was actually 120 years of age when they first met- lively, cheerful and funny. Now he had reached his maturity on the outside while inside he had become serious and quiet, even ruthless.

Since Persephone came down here, she realised that she's never seen him smile happily as he had once before. He only showed her a cold, unemotional face or slight smirks.

Persephone could barely see the young god she once admired in the feature now in front of her eyes. Her heart dropped.

"You've changed." She whispered. Her eyes filled with sadness.

Hades stopped writing when he heard her whisper. He stared at the paper for a while then shift his gaze to Persephone. "So have you." Hades replied.

They were staring at each other until Persephone continued, "Why did you do this?"

"Do what?" He asked back.

"Kidnap me, forced me to stay here…with you." She said with cracking voice. She felt like she was confronting him.

"Because I love you!" He admitted, his voice show no emotion. He didn't know why. He could had told her more intimately, even holding her hands like what men usually do when they confessed their love for their women to show them how honest they were. But he didn't, and that kind of attitude made Persephone misunderstand.

She immediately jumped from his lap. Her face contorted with anger. She gritted her teeth.

"Stop making love as an excuse for your horrible actions! You're just like Apollo, Ares and all the other stupid gods!" She shouted. Cerberus was awakened by the noise and the three heads looked around with confusion.

"You think I'm so naïve and so craving for companion that all you need to do to make me fall for you was saying those three words? You gods don't have love, only lust!" She balled her hands into two fists, trying not to cry. Deep down she didn't want to believe that he was just like the other Olympian gods. Her minds right now full of disappointment, anger and confusion. She felt like she was betrayed.

Hades' eyes opened wider when he heard his goddess threw those accusations to him. Angry? Yes. But more he was hurt. For a long time, he spent his life down in this Underworld, no family, no friends. For decades, he was drowned in loneliness. No one truly understands him, even his brothers. Solitude was the price for being god of the underworld but it was also part of his nature.

Until he met her- the little Kore who jumped into his life and made it more colourful than ever. When he saw her again on Olympus as a grown woman, dancing in sun, his mind and his heart were completely belonged to her. The Fates had told him someday a woman would be willing to stay with him, forever. That must be her, not Leuce. It just had to be Persephone!

But now all he received were her disgust and hatred. He stared at her. Then his eyes turn colder than ice. "You can say whatever you want, think whatever you think but I will not let you go!" He said. His voice laced with venom.

"And I'll always hate you!" Persephone shouted.

* * *

 

Charon was heading to the library, humming his favourite song played by a nymph in Acheron River. He had just received the book he ordered from Olympus, 'Book of love written by Aphrodite'.

Suddenly he saw the library door slammed opened. Persephone stormed out, her hand was wiping a small tear on her face. Charon looked after the lady with confusion. Then he looked inside the room and found Hades sitting on his chair, arms folding in front of his chest and holding a grumpy face.

"My lord, what happened?" The skeleton guy scratched his skull with deep concern.

Hades muttered something under his breath and replied shortly "I confessed my love." His answer was honest but the situation made it sounded more sarcastic than ever.

Charon shook his head…uh… skull. He walked to Hades and showed him his new book.

"You really need to read this!"

Hades glanced at the book, noticing it was written by Aphrodite. "No thanks!" He refused and quickly left the library.

Charon sighed. He thought only lady Persephone was greatly stubborn but it seemed his lord also had the same level of stubbornness. "You two are more alike than you thought!" he mumbled.


	7. Chapter 7

_Meanwhile back up in the Upperworld… without the Spring Goddess the weather got colder, the sky turned grey, freezing cold wind howled everywhere, and despite Demeter’s best efforts the earth became harder, the soil became drier, plants and animals struggled to survive… and so did the humans._

In a village farmhouse in the town of Eleusis, the peasant inhabitants huddled around the hearth, wrapped in blankets trying to keep warm, their animals surrounded them.

“We’re running out of food, and the cattle are dying…” Metaneira wept, swiping the tears from her face.

Keleos nodded, “We’ve been praying for Persephone’s return for two months, but there’s no sign of her returning. Nothing can grow without her.” Keleos said in a defeated tone.

Demophoon, their young son, didn’t say anything, instead he pulled his garbs even closer to his body.

Metaneira spoke with fear evident in her voice, “If she does not come back… what will happen?”

* * *

 

_Meanwhile down in the Underworld, Persephone was planning on escaping…_

_‘Must follow the river… Must go home…’_ She thought to herself as she sat huddled on her bed, drawing on a map she had made of the Underworld.

Two weeks had passed since Theseus and Pirithous had tried to help her escape, she hadn’t heard any thing nor had Hades said anything about what had happened to them, but she desperately hoped that it was nothing bad.

Her musings were cut short when she heard Arachne speaking from the doorway, “My lady?”

In a panicked movement Persephone hid her map under the bedsheets, “Y…yes?”

“Lord Hades would like to invite you to dinner.” Arachne said cheerfully.

Persephone slowly turned around, “Him…invite me?” She said, slightly confused.

* * *

“Charon… do I really have to do this?” Hades said nervously as he watched Charon set the table. Hades rarely, if ever, used the dining room for meals. He usually ate them in his room as he worked.

“Yes my lord, Aphrodite’s ‘Book of Love’ says women love romantic things, like dinner with candlelight. This is the chance to show her how much you care for her.” Charon answered cheerfully.

Charon immediately perked up when the heard two sets of footsteps approaching the dining room. Hades could feel his innards give a twinge when Charon said, “Ah here comes the lady.”

In came Persephone, who was being escorted by Arachne. Hades took a deep breath and hoped his voiced stayed smooth, “Have a seat, Persephone." 

_‘What an arrogant prick’,_ Persephone thought to herself as she approached the table, _‘Have a seat? You don’t even stand up and pull out the chair.’_ Persephone kept her face expressionless as she sat down.

“Would you like some juice, my lady?” Charon offered.

Persephone beamed at the skeleton, “Yes please, thank you very much Charon." 

Through the corner of her eye she could see Hades resting his head on his arm either bored or dejected.

What one could almost say was a staring contest started between them as Persephone grabbed a piece of pita bread. She made sure she still had his full attention when she violently ripped the bread in half and furiously bit into it. She fought the urge to smile when she saw Hades shift nervously in his chair.

“Why don’t the talk to each other?” Arachne whispered to Charon.

Charon squinted, “They’re just… staring. Is there something wrong here?”

They exchanged glances, “My Lady?” Arachne said as she turned towards Persephone.

“My lord?” Charon said to Hades.

“How’s dinner?” They said in union.

“It’s great! Thank you!” Persephone replied, still glaring at Hades.

“It’s fine!” Hades said, trying pretend he couldn’t notice Persephone’s constant glare.

Upon hearing him say that, Persephone swung around to face Charon and Arachne, beaming. “You two must have spent a lot of time on it. For that I believe you deserve a better compliment that just ‘fine’! You know what? This is the most sumptuous meal I’ve ever had! Arachne, I’ve heard you’re a brilliant seamstress but I never thought you could cook these amazing dishes.”

Arachne blushed, “Thank you my lady!” 

“And Charon, you must be the only gentleman in this world!”

Charon laughed awkwardly, “No milady! I just try to be polite.”

Hades rolled his eyes as Persephone continued, “Honestly, I really don’t understand why you two have to suffer having a horrible boss, and this filthy world. You two deserve to saty in the Upperworld with much better people.”  
  
“I own things that people in your beloved Upperworld always desire. There’s more in this world than what you can call ‘filthy’ my dear.” Hades interrupted as he stared in a cup of juice, he smirked at the goddess as he continued. “Things like gold and jewels.”

Persephone scoffed, “Oh please! People live because of food given to them by my mother. What’s good in those glittery dead things? In the end your realm has nothing but death, so don’t be too proud.”

Hades angrily slammed his cup down, “Really? If these ‘glittery things’ are not good, then why are people prepared to kill each other and die for them?” He leaned over the table so he could be closer to her. “You can go ahead and call me horrible but I keep my realm in order. There’s no war, murder or theft in it. So tell me Persephone, which world is better? Yours or mine?” Hades full on glared at her, “You know nothing about me Persephone!”

“Actually I know one thing.” Persephone retorted, her fingers curling around the edge of a plate, as Hades leaned back away from her. “That I will always want to hit your face with this plate!” She raised the plate in question towards Hades, before slamming it onto the table and whipped around, storming back to her room, “Thank you for dinner, Arachne, Charon!”

As soon as Persephone was out of earshot Charon turned to Hades, “Really my lord? You’re supposed to gain her affection, not her hatred!” 

“Should I?” Hades said, hearing his voice cracking as he said it, “Dinner was great… I’m going to retire.”

Charon stood silently as he watched the god walk out of the room.


	8. Chapter 8

“This is it! I must get out of this place, I must go home.” Persephone whispered to herself as she studied her map one final time, taking a deep breath she shoved it into the bodice of her dress.

“Arachne.” She called, hoping the woman would hear her.

The door opened and Arachne poked her head in, “Yes my lady?” 

Persephone made herself look as innocent as possible, “Last night… I… um… was so angry that I… tore a hole in the bedsheet. Could you darn it for me? Right here?”

Arachne walked over and began to investigate the tear. “It’s just a small tear.” She pulled out the needle and thread she always carried on her in case of emergencies. “Don’t worry, it will take me a little time but I’ll be able to make it look like new again.”

Arachne was completely oblivious to Persephone’s actions as she continued, “By the way, I haven’t had a chance to talk to you about the dinner last night. Please don’t be mad at Lord Hades. He just puts all of his effort into running this realm, he just wants you to understand. If you took a tour outside you’ll see that it’s not terrible at all. My lady?” When she didn’t get an answer, she looked up to see Persephone standing outside the bedroom door.

“I truly am sorry Arachne, but I can’t live down here anymore.” Persephone said as she held onto the door handles.

It took Arachne a split second to comprehend as Persephone pulled shut the doors, “No! My lady!” Arachne yelled as she ran for the door, “Please my lady!” But it was clear that Persephone had locked her in. “Open the door! Please Persephone!” Arachne called as she pulled on the doors.

* * *

Persephone felt a massive amount of remorse, but she couldn’t go back to release Arachne, she had to go home! She lifted the hem of her chiton as she ran down the mountain with pure determination. At the base, she hid behind a rock as the dead left Charon’s ferry.

 “Hurry up! Give me one coin then move along! Hey! Hey! Walk in line, will you?” Charon yelled at multiple shades as he crossed them off his list.

He turned towards his boat and noticed her walking towards him. “Hey Persephone, what are you doin-?“

Persephone quickly wrapped her hands around the handle of the oar, “I’m sorry Charon.” She said as she swung the oar at him, knocking his head off his shoulders. One look in her eyes and you’d realise she was genuinely sorry. 

“Why…are…you..?” Charon stuttered as his body crumpled to the ground beside him. He could do nothing but watch as Persephone climbed into the ferry and began to row down the river. He desperately willed his arms to try and reassemble his body as he yelled, “Hey! Where are you going?!”

Persephone rowed desperately down the River Styx, taking a right when the river forked into two other rivers. She had at first believed she was going the right way to get home until she realised she couldn’t recognise the surroundings, furiously whipping her head left and right, trying to see if there was anything she could recognise from the map of the Underworld she’d seen several nights beforehand.

“Where is this place? It doesn’t look like the way back to the Upperworld.” She said to herself, mere seconds before a chilling breeze chilled her to the bone. “Where did this chilling breeze come from?” She said holding her arm in front of her face in an attempt to create a wind break. 

The water surrounding the boat got rough, and the current pulled the boat straight towards a waterfall that led into a dark canyon. “Nooooo!” Screamed Persephone, as she went over the waterfall into the darkness below…

* * *

Arachne buried her head in her hands as she sobbed, “How am I going to explain this to him?” She whispered to herself.

“Arachne?! Arachne?!” She heard Hades call.

“My lord, I’m in here!” Arachne answered hitting her hands against the door, stopping whne the door opened to reveal Hades.

“Arachne, what are you doing in her?” He paused as he looked around, “Where’s Persephone?”

Arachne felt another wave of tears mounting, “Sire…I…” She caved in and through her arms around Hades waist, burying her head into his chest. “I was darning the drape and…then… she slammed shut the door.” She wailed, “I’m sorry! I should’ve known!”

“Alright, Alright! Stop crying, it wasn’t your fault.” He said softly as he held Arachne’s head in his hands, and swiped the tears away.

“But sire…” She said trying to stop herself from crying, “If something bad happens to her… how could I… forgive myself?”

Hades rested his hand on her shoulder, “Don’t worry, I’ll search for that stubborn goddess. She doesn’t know the realm that well so she couldn’t have gone too far.”

As he quickly ran out of the palace, hoping to find her before something bad did happen to her, he met Charon running up the mountain huffing, “My lord… my lord…the lady…she took my boat and sailed towards T…Ta…” Charon couldn’t even bring himself to mention that realm’s cursed name, but Hades knew exactly what he was talking about.

“Quick get into the chariot Charon, we have to find her before _something else_ does.”

* * *

Persephone moaned groggily as she woke up, looking around and seeing nothing but rocks, and geysers, and yet, she got that bizarre feeling that she wasn’t alone. As if there was something watching her somewhere.

“Who’s there?” She said as she gave her surroundings another once-over and that’s when she saw them, three _things,_ for a better way of explaining what they were.

“Hey Iapetus! Look what we’ve just fished.”  Koios, the one who had spoken was a being of ice and snow. There was another thing standing next to him, he looked like something you’d expect to see in the depths of the ocean, his name was Krios.

The one who answered him, Iapetus, looked like he was made of nothing but rock, “She’s so cute Koios…” He cooed, “Like a doll. Come here, baby doll.”

“No! No! Get away,” Persephone screamed as she tried to avoid being picked up. His massive hand closed around her waist.

“So adorable! You must be a mortal, right?” Iapetus said as he studied Persephone. 

“That’s not a mortal, you morons!” A sly, powerful voice said.

All four of them turned towards a being sitting in the shadows, “That girl is a…” He slowly stood up, climbing out of the cave, “Goddess.”

Unlike his comrades, this being looked almost human with shoulder length lank grey hair, however he was made of volcanic stone, with lava veins running across his body. Like the others he was downright hideous.

“R…Really?” Iapetus said timidly.

“Who… Who are you people?” Persephone stammered, her heart pounding with fear.

The lava person smirked, “I am _Cronus_ , we are the _Titans_.” He paused, gesturing around him, “Welcome to _Tartarus_.”

Persephone gasped in terror as Cronus turned to Iapetus, “Give her to me!”

Instinctively she tried to worm her way out of Iapetus’ grip as he passed her to Cronus. “All of the Gods and Goddesses are my enemies.” He turned to his brethren, “Let’s see….so what should I do to this little brat?”

“ICE HER!” Koios yelled.

“Keep her as our pet.” Iapetus said cheerfully.

“No, let’s eat her!” Krios shouted angrily. 

“Hmmm, good idea…” Cronus said wickedly as he glanced at Persephone.

“NO! LET ME GO!” Persephone shrieked at him, raising her hand in self-defence, “Let me go or…. or I will make you regret it!”

“Ooooh, I quiver with fear.” Cronus said slyly, and smirked at her. A single split second passed until his sight was assaulted with a blast of light. He cautiously opened his eyes again and realised all she’d done was hit him with a vast assortment of flowers.

“Petals?” He said and he looked at his brethren, a moment passed for the titans and all four of them burst into uncontrollable laughter. But their amusement was cut short when they heard the sound of horses whinnying.

Cronus glanced upwards with a deadly glare as a horse drawn chariot and a large three-headed dog entered Tartarus. Two figures stood on the chariot until one of them turned and jumped off mid-air. Cronus glared at the figure as they fell through the air and landed feet first into the sand of Tartarus with practiced ease. 

Clutching the bident in their hand tight, they slowly rose glaring at the titans with pure vengeance.

“LET! HER! GO!”


	9. Chapter 9

"Well, well, well! Look who's here! Hades one of my three insolent offspring!" Cronus snapped as he glanced down at his son.

"Hi…. Dad." Hades said, his voice surprisingly soft as he looked up at his father.

"Don't you dare come down here and call me by that name!" Cronus roared, "Especially after what you, and your trashy brothers did to me! What kind of children would do that to their own father?"

Hades furiously grit his teeth, "You're right! There is no kind of father who would  _swallow his own sons because of some stupid prophecy_!"

Persephone whipped around to face the Titan King, her eyebrows raised, and a mixture of horror, shock and mainly disbelief written all over her face. It was, without a doubt, the  _weirdest_  thing she had  _ever_  heard.

"Eeewww! You did that?" Koios muttered.

"That's gross man!" Krois said, frowning slightly.

"Yeah." Iapetus agreed, as all three of the titans looked at Cronus.

Needless to say there was a massive awkward silence, and somewhere in the distance there was the sound of a bird chirping.

"Hmmmm." Cronus said, all the while thinking,  _'Awkward.'_ "Enough of this stupid conversation!" He yelled at Hades, "I was intending to keep this little chit as a pet, but I've changed my mind. I'LL SWALLOW HER WHOLE!" He roared as he opened his mouth.

"NO! NO! NO!" Persephone screamed, trying to pull herself free and save herself from being  _eaten._

Hades instantly grabbed his bident and summoned a blast and shot it directly at his father's face, hitting him in the eye. There was absolutely no way Persephone was being eaten, not if Hades was going to be getting  _his_  say in it.

"MY EYE! MY EYE!" Cronus screamed in pain and instinctively threw the goddess in his hand away, so he could cover his injured eye.

Persephone screamed in shock as she was flung, wildly flaying her arms around in an attempt to stop herself from falling. She landed shoulder-first into a rockwall, everything going black as she passed out.

Hades suddenly came aware of the sound of someone screaming when he realised Persephone wasn't moving, and to his own shock, realised that it was him. He took a deep breath and calmed his nerves.

"Charon!" He yelled at the skeleton, who had wisely hidden behind some rocks, "Take Persephone to my chariot immediately!"

"Y…Yes my lord!" Charon answered, his voice cracking from fear as he got out of his hiding place.

Koios and Iapetus exchanged glances with each other the moment Hades came into view again.

"LEAVE HIM TO ME!" Iapetus roared as he ran towards Hades and slammed the ground where Hades was last standing, only to realise that he had safely jumped out of the way.

Iapetus immediately punched the ledge where Hades landed, only for the god to escape once more. This happened several times until Iapetus lost sight of Hades and yelled in frustration, "Damn it! Would you stay still for at least one moment! You little flea!"

Hades jumped up onto the highest point of the mountain he was standing on, only to find Koios waiting for him.

"Ha! I'd like to see you escape this! I'll freeze you straight to the core." Koios yelled, as he shot a blast of ice and snow, from his mouth, straight at Hades.

Both Iapetus and Koios watched as Hades ducked behind a rock pillar before the frost hit the mountainside. Both titans were silent as they heard the faint crackling as the ice settled on the mountain.

Koios slowly walked forward and studied the ice, trying to find Hades, "Hmph." He snorted in contempt.

Iapetus walked around to the other side, "Is he frozen yet?" He said to Koios.

"I don't see him Iapetus. Where is that little brat?" Koios replied, as he studied the mountain again.

"Up here!" Hades yelled in reply, standing at the summit of another mountain.

Iapetus looked up at the god the exact moment, Hades jumped off. He realised too late that Hades was going to hit him the moment Hades bident bit into the juncture between his shoulder and neck. There was a massive flash of light and a sound the vaguely sounded like thunder.

Iapetus screamed with pain and lowered his head in agony, allowing Hades to face Koios. Hades summoned up another blast and aimed straight at Koios, shattering parts of the ice that coated his body.

"OUCH! IT BURNS!" Koios snapped as he, like his brother, slowly collapsed from pain.

Meanwhile, as Hades was keeping the titans distracted, Charon was climbing the mountain to where Persephone was lying unconscious. "Lady Persephone." Charon said softly as he pulled himself onto the ledge where Persephone lay. He carefully scooped he up, "My lady, wake up! We gotta go!" Charon soon realised that she wasn't going to wake up, so he decided to carry her. "I hope they don't see us!" He muttered as he watched Koios attempt to hit Hades again.

But to Charon's horror Krois noticed his escape attempt, "Where do you think you're going, you little rats?" He roared as he reached for Charon and Persephone.

"AH! MY LORD! HELP!" Charon yelled as he quickly ran backwards to try and dodge the titan.

Suddenly a dark blur leapt in front of Charon and Persephone. "Arghhh! Stupid dog!" Krois yelled as Cerberus bit into the tender skin of his hand.

Swinging around to use his other hand, "OH NO!" Charon shrieked as Krois swung, knocking Charon and Persephone off the cliff in the process. "Not again!" Charon yelled as his bones scattered to the floor, "LADY PERSEPHONE!" Charon screamed as Persephone began plummeting to the ground.

Hearing Charon's yell, Hades turned his attention away from the titans and towards the unconscious goddess. He quickly began sprinting towards the area Persephone would hit as soon as she hit the ground. "Persephone!" Hades leapt from the ground and prepared himself to catch Persephone.

Meanwhile Cronus had finally gotten rid of the pain in his eye and turned his attention to his distracted son. "GRRR! YOU LITTLE BASTARD! I'LL BURN YOU UNTIL THERE IS NOTHING LEFT BUT ASH!" Cronus roared at his son. He took a deep breath and breathed out fire.

In a quick fluid movement Hades caught the unconscious goddess, and realising what his father was doing, manipulated his body so that only he'd being in the line of fire.

Hades quickly swallowed back a gasp of agony the moment the fire hit his back, causing him to pull Persephone even closer to him to ensure she wouldn't be hit, and sending him plummeting to the ground beneath. There was a massive cracking sound the moment Hades hit the ground, sending up smoke plumes.

Cronus stared at the smoke until he saw Hades slowly stagger to his feet, still holding onto Persephone and slowly began to walk away. Cronus smirked, "Does it hurt?" After an afterthought, he added in mock concern, "Son!"

Hades tensed the moment Cronus called him 'son', he tightened his grip on his bident, glaring in front of him as he slowly spoke, "Do you want to get a taste of how much pain I am in right now, Dad?" Whipping around with vengeance in his eyes, focusing on Cronus as he furiously stabbed the earth of Tartarus and sending a massive blast straight at the titans and knocking them to the ground. The volcanoes located in Tartarus all began to erupt as the realm itself responded to Hades fury. Charon, who had reassembled himself and was sitting by the chariot, buried his face into Cerberus' fur and stroked him as the husky began to whimper with fear.

"Charon! Cerberus! Let's get out of here!" Hades yelled as he began a massive sprint straight towards him. All three entered the chariot and Hades urged the horses on as he held Persephone close to his chest, glancing at her with concern.

Cronus shook himself out of his daze and ran towards the retreating gods, "Grrr! Come back here! HADES!" He yelled but it was too late.

The gods were already gone.


	10. Chapter 10

Arachne sighed with relief when she saw the chariot land in front of the palace. "You came back. Oh, thank the fates." She said as she ran down the steps towards Hades. Arachne took note of how Hades was carrying Persephone's limp body. "Is she alright? Is she hurt?" She said urgently.

"She's passed out." Hades replied as he carried Persephone into the palace, "I need your help, can you prepare her bed, get water and a towel." Hades winced as he stumbled on a step. It didn't escape Arachne's notice.

"Yes sire, but…you're wounded too." She said as she took note of the torn, burnt clothing and skin. Arachne quickly ran ahead to do as Hades advised.

"I'm fine! Don't worry!" Charon said as he followed the pair, carrying Hades' bident.

* * *

Hades carefully dipped the cloth into the water, before lifting it out and giving it a good wringing before he gently washed the dust and cleaned the scrapes on Persephone's face.

Arachne couldn't help but blush slightly when she saw the deep emotions in Hades' eyes as he talked to the unconscious goddess.

"My stubborn girl, I knew you were going to run away.' He paused as her gently brushed some hair out of her face. "There's so many places down here and you chose Tartarus." He rested his hand on her cheek and glanced down at her as she stirred back into life.

The first thing Persephone saw when she regained consciousness was Hades glancing down at her warmly. Her eyes flashed and she reacted in the exact way you'd expect from someone in her position.

"YOU PERVERT!" She shrieked, punching him as she sat up.

"What the…?" Hades muttered in a startled tone as he fell off the bed and onto the floor.

Persephone pulled her legs close to her body as she continued, "STAY AWAY FROM ME!" She yelled at him.

"…Persephone, I just saved you from being eaten in Tartarus. Is that not enough to show you how much I care about you? To show you that…I love you?" Hades said in a quiet, exhausted tone of voice.

"Then what do you want me to stay? Thank you? For taking me down here, so that I was forced to have no choice but to try and find my own way home?" Persephone felt her emotions build and she couldn't stop the tears that escaped from her eyes and she started weeping. "You tell me you care, but all you do is keep me down here like I'm nothing more than your possession."

Hades almost felt himself start crying from the guilt that kept building as she continued, her voice cracking from her grief. "Why don't you just take me home, like you did before so many years ago when I was a child?"

Hades knew exactly what she was talking about and almost reached out to comfort her, but knew that it would only make Persephone's grief only worse. He pulled himself to his feet and made to walk out of the room. "Arachne… can you take care of her for me." He said softly, trying to keep his sadness out of his voice.

"Yes sire." Arachne replied watching him walk towards the door, and sitting down on the bed next to Persephone. "Lady Persephone, please don't cry." She said softly to the weeping girl, who had in the meantime buried her face in her hands.

"My lord! Wait for me." Charon quickly said to the retreating god.

Hades took a deep breath as he rested his hand on the doorframe of Persephone's room, feeling the last of the adrenaline rush from fighting the titans wear off. He suddenly became aware of how much pain his body was in, and slumped against the door with a gasp of agony.

"My lord! What's wrong?!" Charon shrieked worryingly as he watched Hades take deep laboured breaths.

"I'm… fine." Hades moaned out as he doubled over and clutched his stomach.

Charon took one look at his master and knew that Hades was anything but fine. "OH NO! YOUR ARM… YOUR ARM IS BLEEDING!" Charon shrieked with alarm, getting Arachne's attention.

"WHAT?!" She gasped with alarm as Persephone curiously looked at the god with a sense of alarm as ichor, the golden blood of the gods, dripped from his arm onto the floor.

* * *

As soon as Hades was in his room, Arachne had him strip of his armour, mantle and tunic before assessing the damage to his body. She shook her head as she looked at the burnt, torn flesh of his back and left arm. "Oh god." She muttered, "It looks terrible my lord."

Hades laughed awkwardly, before sobering up and gritting his teeth in pain when he felt Arachne carefully start cleaning his wounds. "It will heal quickly, I'm a god." He reassured her.

"But you still need to take great care. The wound might get worse, or even infected." Charon said, holding Arachne's medical supplies.

Persephone quietly tiptoed down the hallway and stood just outside the door of Hades bedroom, peering in and listened in on their conversation.

"Stop exaggerating Charon. This isn't the first time I've been injured." Hades replied, almost rolling his eyes.

"No it's not my lord, but this is the worst injury you've had since you came down to the Underworld." Charon said urgently.

Persephone felt a massive stab of guilt when she saw just how badly injured Hades was.

Suddenly there was a flash of light outside on the balcony and the sound of whistling. Cerberus instinctively started growling as a child flew into the room carrying a bag slung over his shoulder and an amphora under his arm.

"Good evening." The child said cheerfully as he straightened his winged hat, he turned towards the still growling Cerberus. "It's me Hermes." He said to the dog before turning towards Hades, Arachne and Charon. "How are you guys?"

He walked up to Hades, handed him the amphora and pulled out a stone tablet. "One package, sent from Zeus and Poseidon." He handed Hades a quill and pointed to a section of the tablet. "Please sign here."

Hades took the quill and quickly signed the tablet as Cerberus rested one of his heads on his shoulder as all three heads glanced at the amphora curiously. "Hey kid!... Why did they send me an amphora? I have plenty of them down here."

Hermes grinned as he floated in mid-air. "It's not a normal a normal amphora, my lord. It contains a magic cloud to create hologram and sound, so you can talk to the two other lords. It's new tech my lord." He said excitedly, before straightening up and heading towards the balcony. "If there's any problem just call me, ok? Bye!" And with a flash of light, Hermes was gone.

Hades pulled the lid of the amphora and fog escaped, creating a screen of sorts. On the other side of the screen stood Zeus and Poseidon.

"Heh, heh! There you are bro!" Zeus said to Hades excitedly.

"We've been waiting for you!" Poseidon said, grinning.

"We saw your abduction bro! Fast and furious! It was awesome, we admire you, bro!" Zeus gushed clenching his fists with excitement.

"Yeah! Who could believe that someone would actually dare to mess with Demeter! You are badass!" Poseidon continued, waving his hands.

Zeus frowned the moment he had a good look at his younger brother, "Hey, what's wrong? Are you hurt?" He said as he pointed at the bandages that were wrapped around Hades' torso and left arm.

Hades sighed, "Nothing! I had to get Persephone back from Tartarus, Dad still seems pissed off about what happened, you know!"

Zeus and Poseidon exchanged glances, "Yeah but why…" Zeus began until the meaning behind Hades' words hit him, "I get it! You were on a rescue mission huh? Sounds cool!" Zeus grinned mischievously.

Poseidon squeezed his cheeks as he said, "Let me guess! She's falling to her knees and worshiping you!?"

Taking a deep breath, Hades answered his brother, "No! To be honest, she hates me!"

"Wait… Whaaat?!" Zeus and Poseidon said in union.

Using all three of the male gods' distraction, Persephone quickly slipped into the room and hid in the shadows, just in time to hear what was said next.

"No matter what I do, she still loathes me." Hades explained to his brothers.

Poseidon shook his head, frowning, "Like mother like daughter. I told you that girl is not easy going."

Persephone's heart stopped and she felt her skin chill straight down to the bone when she heard what Zeus said.

Zeus took a deep breath and said, "Well… then rape her and let go." He wasn't being  _completely_  serious, mind you, but it was enough to get Hades slightly riled up.

"What the... Are you insane!? That will only succeed in making her want to kill me!" Hades shrieked at his brother.

"Psss, who cares?" Zeus scoffed sarcastically.

"Dude! There are so many pretty girls out there waiting for you. So, you gotta move quick on this one." Poseidon said as he shook his head slightly.

"Hold on! You think… I brought Persephone down here… temporarily?" Hades said, frowning slightly. "You think I just want to… play with her?" Hades said in shock.

Poseidon smirked, "Of course! What else do you want?"

"Marry her?" Zeus finished.

"Y-yes, just like you two did with Hera and Amphitrite." Hades said, his voice cracking slightly.

Zeus and Poseidon exchanged glances before looking at their youngest brother and rised and eyebrow, "Are you serious." They said in union and when Hades nodded slightly, they burst into uncontrollable laughter.

"That was the first girl in your quest and you want to marry her already?" Zeus said incredulously.

"That's not how you play the game, little brother." Poseidon added.

Zeus grinned, "Hades, we are gods! Strong powerful and handsome! We deserve more than just one woman. If you want to get stuck with a woman for eternity, make sure you have fun with at least 20 or 30 others!"

"Exactly." Poseidon agreed.

"But I only need Persephone." Hades said softly.

Zeus sighed to himself, "I can't believe I'm quoting Hera's words here: you can't marry someone who doesn't love you. This girl you kidnapped, she'll never love you."

Hades bowed his head and stared determinedly at the floor. "Your right." He sighed, feeling the hope leave his body. He frowned as he said, "Then, I'll let her go!"

Persephone felt herself startle slightly when she heard those words leave Hades.

"Ok, your life your choices." Zeus said as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"That's enough for today. Thank you for the talk!" Hades said as his fingers closed on the lid on the amphora.

"Hey! So what is the next target?-" Zeus said right before he was cut off when Hades sealed the amphora shut and got up to place it gently on the floor.

"My lord! You have suffered so much pain because of her. How could you give up now?" Arachne said as she gently rested her hand on his shoulder.

Hades took a deep breath before turning around to face Persephone, who had realised that he'd known she was there the whole time. He looked and sounded sad as he got up and walked into his room, "Tomorrow, I'm taking you home." He as he walked away, trying to not look her in the eye.

Persephone felt numb, she had spent the last few months wanting to go home, in fact she said not 20 minutes before that she wanted to go home.

Numbly, her legs collapsed beneath her and she sat on the tiles in shock, numbly stroking Cerberus who had decided to cuddle himself against her.

_Why was she upset now that Hades was taking her home was the question that constantly plagued her that night._


	11. Chapter 11

Hades stood silently out his palace, reigns to his chariot in hand and gently stroking the muzzle of one of his horses. Hades wasn't going to lie, he felt miserable about returning Persephone, but he knew it was the right thing to do considering the fact the she disliked being down in the Underworld with him.

The silence was broken with the sounds of footsteps approaching and Arachne saying, "My lord, Lady Persephone is ready."

He took a deep breath and faced the maid holding onto Persephone's hand. "Alright, let's go." He said to them quickly.

Persephone straightened her hooded himation and turned to Charon and Arachne, pulling Arachne into a hug.

"Arachne, Charon, I'm sorry... For what I did to you." She said softly.

"Oh, we're going to miss you so much," Arachne said as she returned Persephone's hug, she started crying when Persephone pulled away and gave them a small wave as she walked towards Hades.

"Farewell." Charon said as he returned the gesture with a wave of his own.

Persephone took a steadying breath as she gathered up the skirts of her chiton and accepted Hades offered hand as she climbed into the chariot, as Hades went to urge the horses, she quickly spoke what was on her mind, "Wait! May I... Have a word?"

As soon as she saw Hades confirmation, she continued. "... I... Um...Since I came down here...I... Haven't been really out of the palace." She felt so awkward about talking for once in her life and she found herself playing with her fingers as she spoke. "I... Want to know a little more about... Your world. So... Can I stay one more day to see things around? And... Will you give me a ride?"

Hades blinked in surprise, she wanted to stay longer? "...Of course." He replied, the shock and surprise extremely noticeable in his voice. "Hold on tight to me, alright?"

As soon as Persephone smiled in answer and linked her arm with Hades, he urged the horses on. Persephone gasped in shock and wrapped both her arms around Hades' own, tightly and grinned as she looked down and saw the Underworld spanning out beneath them. The landscape beneath them consisted of pale sanded mountainous plains with hundreds of caves where the souls lived. Multiple tributaries flowed through the plains and down waterfalls into the River Styx itself; just in the distance Persephone could see where the Styx met the rivers Cocytus and Acheron.

Dozens of souls swam in the tributaries, stopping momentarily to look up and excitedly wave to them.

'Look!" A soul said, pointing up towards the gods.

"Hello!" Yelled another, as she waved.

Hades flew past a rock pinnacle that was shaped like a tower, inside the highest cave lived the Erinyes and Persephone swallowed back laughter when she saw what was going on inside. Theseus and Pirithous were tied up with rope, and Tisiphone grinned at the goddess and gave her a small wave, her hands full of tiny blossoms while her sisters wove the blossoms into the boys' hair as they braided.

They flew out over another plain and dozens of souls waved up at them.

"Is that the Spring Goddess?" One enquired.

"WOW!" Another squealed.

"Would you like to see my workplace at the Judgement Tower?" Hades said as he turned towards Persephone

Persephone couldn't wipe the grin off her face as she looked at the landscape. "Yes, I'd love to."

* * *

Persephone held onto Hades arm as they left the chariot and walked into the pavilion. When they entered the tower three elderly ladies were waiting for them.

"Sisters, I thought you came tomorrow." Hades said in surprise.

"Are they the Moirai?" Persephone asked him.

"Yes we are dear." Atropos, the eldest of the Moirai said.

"We knew he would bring you here today." Lachesis said, smiling softly.

"Clotho, what does Demeter's precious daughter look like?" Atropos, being hard of sight, asked her sister.

"Oh, she's gorgeous!" Clotho replied.

"Here you go kid, the dead list of this month. The number of dead people is down to half of last month." Clotho said to Hades as she handed him a scroll.

"Come here dear!" Atropos said to Persephone as Clotho spoke to Hades. "Wow, your skin is so smooth." She said as she held Persephone's wrist.

"Well… It seems that the 'unlucky boy'… Can finally be happy now!" Lachesis called as she gently played with the ends of Persephone's hair.

Hades head snapped up from the scroll, "Ares stopped that silly war at last?" He asked Clotho hopefully.

"Yes." She answered with a smile.

"Unlucky boy? What does she mean...?" Persephone enquired as she looked at Lachesis.

"What? He hasn't told you about that?" Lachesis asked her.

"Told me about what?"

"Hmmm! That boy… Ok, I'll tell you that story…" Lachesis sighed and held both of Persephone's hands, using her powers over the past to show Persephone what had happened. "Back in the days when Hades and his brothers had just dethroned their father, Kronos. They decided to share the cosmos with each other."  _Persephone could see in her mind's eye, three young boys looking out over a crumbled kingdom._  "Each one of them would rule a realm, which were determined by the lots they picked."  _Three boys walked over and picked up a slip, each one containing the name of the realm they'd chosen. Zeus grinned the moment he read his, Poseidon smiled in satisfaction and Hades grimaced nervously when he learnt what his realm was to be._ "Zeus got the best lot, the sky. Poseidon got the second-best lot, the ocean and Hades, that poor boy, picked… the Underworld." Atropos explained.

She took a deep breath before continuing. "After that, they separated. Zeus built a grand shiny palace on Mount Olympus. Married Hera, does a few jobs and gets to leave the rest to Demeter and his juniors." Once again Persephone's mind was filled with images from the past.  _She could see a grand celebration being held by the Gods of Olympus, she soon realised that it was the party from Zeus and Hera's wedding._ "Poseidon's life is even better! He's got all of his in-laws to back him up so… he just has fun all day!"  _Persephone could see Poseidon celebrating with his wife Amphitrite and his subjects._

 _The image in Persephone's mind shifted, she could see a miserable teenaged boy sitting on a pile of rocks with a tree sapling in his hand, a small lizard crawling on his head, the soul of a small child curiously chewing on his himation and a three headed puppy sitting next to him. She realised she was seeing Hades when he was no older than herself._ "Meanwhile, Hades has to deal with the dead humans, the titans and other stupid monsters. He always tries to keep the Underworld in order." Persephone glanced sadly over towards the God who was busy reading over the list of deceased. "That's why he rarely leaves his realm, let alone having any fun or wooing women. Plus, the humans are afraid of him because he is the god who rules over death."

Atropos chuckled as she wove a thread, "They even believe that-"

"-He is a grumpy old man with blue flames for hair!" Lachesis finished. "Oh! I can still remember the first time we met him."

"Have you finished telling her my back story." Hades said as he walked over to the three women were sitting. "Because we really got to get going." He crossed his arms across his chest. "By the way, it wasn't  _that_  tragic Lady Lachesis."

Persephone quickly got to her feet and smoothed her skirts, waving a quick goodbye as she left with Hades. She didn't know what Hades was thinking by saying it wasn't that tragic, she'd  _seen_ what had happened.

When they reached the chariot outside, she accepted Hades' hand and climbed in. "Where are we going?" She called over the wind.

"To that mine over there!" Hades replied, pointing towards a cave system where dozens of souls were gathered.

* * *

Hades quietly examined the piles of minerals the souls had gathered from the caves. "Well done!" Next to him Persephone gently picked them up and admired the different colours of the stones.

He turned towards a woman, "Send these ores to the ground tomorrow."

"Yes sire." She replied.

Hades wrapped an arm around Persephone and walked towards the chariot, "You all shall be rewarded, and you are free to go home."

The woman exchanged a glance with another soul, "Um.. Your majesty?"

Hades turned around and looked at the woman curiously, "What's the matter?"

The younger woman took a deep breath, "We…We've been looking forward to seeing Lady Persephone and… We've prepared… A humble gift for the lady."

"Really?!" Persephone shrieked enthusiastically, clapping her hands together.

Hades looked at Persephone and looked back at the souls awkwardly, "Uh… Alright bring it out."

The crowd of dead souls parted and a single woman walked towards the gods. "We heard that Lady Persephone likes flowers, so we made these." She handed Persephone flowers that were made from molten gold, and had a rather  _bizarre_  shape. "These golden flowers are for her."

 _'What the…? Is that…?'_  Hades thought to himself with a slightly constipated expression on his face. The flower shape would remind anyone of well,  _droppings._

Hades felt himself blush like mad and he awkwardly coughed as Persephone accepted the flowers. "Well… Thank you very much! Such… Strange flowers they are." She pulled a small cord from her dress and tied the flowers together.

"Honestly." The lady began, "We've been dead for so long, we don't remember what flowers look like."

Persephone gasped in shock, "Oh my! That's terrible!" She turned towards her companion. "Hades would you hold these for me please." She said as she handed him her bouquet of flowers. "My dear people, let me remind you how wonderful flowers are." She said to the curious souls.

She walked a little way away from them, took a deep breath and summoned her control over nature. Small sprouts began growing in the fields, before shooting up in a variety of species.

Numerous exclamations of surprise came from the surrounding souls.

"Wow!"

"F-flowers!"

"I remember now!"

"Flowers look like this!"

"You are amazing!" Squealed one of the little girls who gathered their own little bouquets to hand to the goddess.

Hades accepted the offer of a daisy from the soul of a little boy and tucked it behind his ear, smiling as Persephone told them the species of flowers.

"There are so many species of flowers, and there are a lot more than what we have here." She pointed to numerous types of flowers and told the souls what they were. "Daisies, sunflowers, lilies, roses and this one is my personal favourite, narcissus."

Persephone glanced skyward and noticed the fading light, as did the souls.

"My lady please come back tomorrow."

"We will make another batch of gold flowers for you."

"Um, this…" Persephone began.

"Please! Please! Please." Said the souls of multiple children.

"Alright!" Persephone giggled, "I'll visit you again tomorrow!" She linked her arm with Hades' and as they flew away in the chariot, she turned and waved. "Goodbye!" She called to them,

"Those dead people are so sweet." Persephone said to Hades as she watched the fields disappear behind them. "I want to give them something back. What do they like?"

"Human flesh." Hades said in a dead pan voice.

"WHAT! REALLY!" Persephone shrieked.

The dead pan expression melted off Hades face and he grinned at her. "No silly! I was joking."

It took Persephone a few seconds to realise what Hades said and she started giggling, "Ha! So you do have a sense of humour." She teased.

"Of course I do." Hades smiled at her.

"My lady! You're back!" Arachne squealed excitedly as soon as she saw the gods enter.

"This is amazing! I thought we were never going to see you again!" Charon laughed.

Hades chuckled with amusement, "Yes, we are all happy, right. But I'm also starving." He teased.

Persephone smiled and raised her eyebrow at Hades, "Me too! I'm not going to lie, but I haven't even left and I already miss your cooking." She said to them.

Charon rested his hands on his hips and laughed. "Um.. Well you two go get tidied up and we'll prepare dinner right now." He waited until the two gods began to walk up the staircase before turning to Arachne. Charon clasped his hands in excitement. "I can't believe my eyes! It's almost magical!"

"I know, it was hopeless this morning. But now." Arachne paused to gesture towards the gods who seemed to be locked in a conversation of their own. "They are so close!"

* * *

"Don't you ever think that it is so unfair for you to rule the Underworld. Because of that people misunderstand you and your older brothers have all their love and admiration. They don't even build you a temple." Persephone said, resting her cheek on her hand.

"Well, it isn't that bad." Hades replied, "Though people think about us differently, we're still good brothers." He paused for a moment to drink, and smirked as he continued. "Besides, being the ruler of this realm makes me richer that all of the Olympians combined."

Persephone snorted, "Ha ha! I guess that's true!" She sighed, "When I was a little girl, my mother told me many stories of how the gods tricked innocent young girls into their beds and… made their lives miserable. Moreover, I, myself, have been pursued by four gods and they were horrible!" Persephone paused to catch her breath and awkwardly stroked her hair. "So I thought... you're no different, though we'd met before but… I was still scared. I was so scared that it made me act like a jerk to you. You saved my life but I… didn't even say 'thank you'."

Hades raised an eyebrow, "I kidnaped you, forced you to stay with me and I even imprisoned you the first day you came here. I deserved all that hatred." He set his chalice on the table and fiddled with it.

Persephone shrugged, "Oh come on! Kidnapping was your brother Zeus' idea. He and Poseidon are the jerks, not you. I heard your entire conversation with them last night, so you cannot deny it.!"

Hades stared at the table with a sense of renewed determination. "There's one thing you're wrong about." He took a deep breath, trying not to smile. "Actually…I do want to possess you."

Persephone frowned slightly, and spoke in a confused tone, "What do you mean?"

He traced a finger along the sides of his chalice, "When I travelled to Olympus that day and saw you dancing at Athena and Artemis's party. My affection towards you was no longer that innocent sense of protection like it used to be when I first met you. Your smile haunted me until there came a day when I decided I had to have you for myself." He stopped playing with his chalice and turned to face Persephone, and finished with complete honesty. "Taking you down here is the greatest mistake I've ever made in my entire existence."

Persephone smiled, "Indeed it is." She paused for a moment to shift herself onto his thigh and wrapped her hand around his. For a brief moment, she saw the unbridled love in his eyes and found herself considering what would happen if she'd kiss him. She startled slightly, realising that she'd been subconsciously leaning her face towards him. She decided against it, knowing that it was still too soon to be traveling down that pathway and instead rested her head against his chest. "But if you hadn't have done it… How could I have known that you're still the same old nice god who once saved me from a centaur I know." She shifted her head until she found an angle that felt comfortable, watching the shock on his face deepen as he slowly wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer.

In the back of her mind she realised that they weren't alone when she heard Arachne say, "Awww! That's so sweet!"

And Charon replying with, "Finally they've come together all on their own!"

And to be honest, she really didn't care about the fact that they been watched, it was all two perfect in that moment.


	12. Chapter 12

_From that day on, they officially became the cutest couple in the Underworld. Instead of locking herself up in Hades’ palace, Persephone followed him to every corner of his realm (except for Tartarus, of course). They constantly tried to find a reason to spend more time with each other and with a warm heart, Persephone began to love this cold kingdom from the outside, but it was as kind and gentle on the inside as the King who ruled it._

_Persephone made it her personal mission to bring a sense of life back into the dead kingdom, but the question that everyone wondered was: would she chose to stay down in the Underworld with Hades forever…_

* * *

“Hades!” Turning away from his horses at the call of his name, Hades saw Persephone quickly run out of the main entryway of his palace, with Arachne in tow. “Hades! Wait Up!”

 

After stopping briefly to catch her breath, Persephone spoke, a small bundle of material clutched in her hands, “I feel really bad about you losing your helmet in Tartarus the other day.”

 

Hades chuckled softly, shaking his head, “Don’t worry about it Persephone, it was just an old helmet of mine. I don’t need it now.”

 

Persephone arched an eyebrow, “Yes, you’re right! A King like you shouldn’t have to wear that ugly old thing…. So I asked those lovely souls from the mine to make you…” She smiled as she reached into her bundle.

 

“What?” Hades asked in slight confusion. _‘I hope they didn’t misremember like they did with the…er… flowers.’_ He thought.

 

“…A crown! TA DA!” Persephone finished excitedly.

 

Hades glanced down in shock at the lovely silver spiked crown Persephone held in her hands. “It’s… it’s beautiful…well… thank you!” Hades stuttered.

 

Persephone squealed, “Try it on!”

 

Hades crouched down so Persephone could place the crown on his head. Reaching up to straighten the crown, “Alright. How do I look?”

 

Persephone excitedly clasped her fists together, “It suits you very much.”

 

Hades gave Persephone a quick one-armed hug and left for the Judgement Chamber.

 

“Goodbye!” Persephone called as he left. Reaching to squeeze a small section of her hair, she sighed dreamily to Arachne, “Hades looks so handsome with that crown, doesn’t he.”

 

“Uh… Yes Milady.” Arachne said awkwardly, because if one was to be honest, she’d never thought of Hades in such a way.

 

Persephone turned to re-enter the palace, “Come on, let’s go! We should hold a party tonight! Call Charon and the souls.” Persephone chirruped to Arachne.

 

“But…Persephone you do realise that Hades doesn’t like noisy parties, right?” Arachne answered.

 

“Well… so don’t tell him about the party.” Persephone said matter-of-factly.

* * *

 

Cerberus yawned as his right head gently rested on Hades shoulder as he went through the day’s soul records. Hades frowned slightly, hearing a noticeable disturbance in the palace’s usual nightly sounds. “What is that noise..?” He mused to himself.

 

Slipping silently through the corridors, he arrived at the source of the sound. “What the..?” He muttered as he entered a room to find the souls and various other Chthonic spirits having a party.

 

“Oh my…”

 

“Y…your majesty.”

 

Quickly a hush fell upon the souls and they parted as Hades walked to the centre of the room where Persephone was dancing with Charon, oblivious to Hades presence. As Charon spun Persephone, he looked up and yelped with shock the moment he saw Hades, letting go of Persephone and causing her to crash into him in the process.

 

“Oops.” Persephone shook the impact off and went to apologise to the person she hit, the words dying on her lips the moment she realised who it was. “Hades…” She stuttered and instinctively turned towards Charon, who nodded in encouragement, “Hey! You’re here! You finished your work… we were just… having a little fun…you know that it’s kinda… boring at night.” Persephone rambled, nervously wearing a smile.

 

Hades frowned, “You’re holding a party full of people playing music loudly… right beneath my work room.” He said slow and careful.

 

Persephone could feel beads of sweat gathering on her forehead, _he wasn’t going to scold her in front of everyone, right?_ “I’m sorry, just please don’t be mad. I…just…”

 

Hades held up a finger, cutting her off. “You didn’t let me finish, Persephone. You’re holding a party right under my work room.” He paused for a moment as a slow smirk spread across his face. “…And you didn’t think to invite me?” He arched his eyebrow and his smirk widened into a grin as he saw the nervousness slowly seep out of everyone.

 

“Oh thank the gods, he’s not angry.” Charon muttered under his breath with a sigh of relief.

 

Persephone rested her hand on her hip as she reached up to wipe the sweat from her forehead. “Well, it’s because… I was told that you don’t know how to dance.” Persephone said in a mischievous tone.

Hades grinned, “Oh really?”

 

Persephone paused for a moment, “Yeah.”

 

Hades quickly reached for her hand, and in a single, fluid movement, pulled her against his body and rested her hand on his shoulder. “We’ll have to see about that.” He said softly.

 

Persephone could vaguely hear exclamations of surprise and Charon telling people to make the music slower. She vaguely saw Hades mouth “éna, dýo, tría.” To himself several times as he lead them through the dance, occasionally adding in half and full spins and holding so close she swore she could feel his heart beating against her chest. Through the corner of her eye, she could see one of the souls weeping slightly and saying, “I didn’t know there could be romantic moments in the Underworld.” “Me neither.” Another replied.  “So, how’s my ‘non-existent’ dancing skills?” Hades asked. Persephone giggled as she rested her head against his heart. “They’re… ok.” Hades smiled gently and rested his head on Persephone’s. “I’ve… never seen him act this gentle before.” Charon said as he clasped his hands in excitement. “I know… I wish Lady Persephone could stay down here forever.” Arachne said wistfully. “That’s it!” Charon exclaimed and quickly ran off to gather a few souls together, a few minutes later he returned to Arachne’s side. “Can you call out to him?” “Pssst, my lord.” Arachne stage whispered to Hades, who curiously looked up to see Charon gesturing to a sign four souls were holding up, read: _Propose to her_. Hades could feel sweat beading on his forehead as his cheeks began to burn as he glanced down at Persephone, who was blissfully unware of what was going on. Ascalaphus, one of the daemons of the Underworld and a son of Acheron and Styx, frowned at Charon, “Hey! How did you make that sign so quickly.”

 

“Errr, Persephone, shall we go outside.” Hades said shyly, as he began to lead Persephone towards one of the doors that led outside the palace.

 

“Ok.” Persephone said calmly, unsure as to why Hades had begun to blush. “So where are we going.” Persephone asked as Hades led her through an unfamiliar part of the palace.

 

“You’ll see.” Hades replied.


	13. Chapter 13

Persephone followed Hades through the unfamiliar parts of the palace and out into a courtyard, ringed by several Doric columns. Lying ahead of them was a small flight of stairs and what appeared to be a small garden with a single tree inside it. Despite the sunlight filtering down on the tree, it remained gnarled and stunted.

"This pomegranate tree is the only plant growing down here in the Underworld." Hades explained as he sat down on the frame of the garden. "My mother gave it to me right before I descended down here."

"It looks so weak." Persephone whispered as she gently ran her hand along one of the tree's branches.

Hades nodded in agreement, "I planted it in the only source of sunlight of my realm, but-"

"It may need a bit of magic!" Persephone exclaimed as she finished Hades sentence for him.

Taking a deep breath, Persephone waved her hand over the pomegranate tree and within seconds it shot up into a fully matured tree. Hades couldn't keep the grin off his face as Persephone stated in full satisfaction. "Much better."

Hades took a deep breath to try and steel his nerves, he was sure on the fact that he'd never been more aware of his heartbeat until now. "Persephone?"

Persephone's gaze shot up and away from the tree and met his eyes, curious, "Yes?"

Hades took a steady breath and took the plunge, "Persephone... there's something... Look I don't know if this is the right time, or if there is ever going to be a 'right time' to ask you... but..." Hades reached down and took her hands into his own, "Will you... stay here and... be my queen?" He awkwardly bit his lip, looking away briefly as he started to ramble slightly. "I know that for an Earth goddess like you, this place is horrible and I won't force you. If you say 'No' I will return you to the Upperworld and-"

"Yes!"

Hades gaze suddenly returned to Persephone's, "I...er... _what_?"

Persephone smiled gently, placing a finger against his lips to prevent him from rambling on more. "I'll stay here... with you Hades."

Hades gaze softened as he carefully brushed a few strands of hair behind her ear, before resting his hand on her cheek. "Do you think we'll need any kind of chthonic magic in order for you to stay here happily?"

Persephone giggled as she shifted close enough to be able to grab ahold of his himation. "Who said I need magic in order to stay here? When I have you."

Persephone knew what was going to happen before it even happened when Hades' other hand rested on her cheek and she realised that he'd suddenly gone quiet and was staring at her. It almost made her feel self-conscious, but she was unable to look away once their eyes had met. His gaze had turned notably intense and before Persephone had enough time to fully ponder the reason, he fulfilled her suspicions by leaning forward and closing the gap between them. Persephone could feel her grip on his clothing tighten as they kissed.

* * *

 

"What did she say?" Charon asked Arachne as they, as well as several other Chthonic inhabitants, watched from the doorway.

"I don't know." Arachne replied, as she turned her attention back to the pair of gods in the courtyard. They still appeared to be talking; but what they were talking about was something Arachne couldn't decipher.

Of course the chthonians got the answer to their unasked question when they saw Hades lean forward to kiss Persephone and needless to say everyone watching burst into cheers, while Cerberus began jumping on everyone in excitement.

"Oh this is amazing!" Arachne squealed as Cerberus bounded ahead of the group to excitedly lick Hades and Persephone.

"We're finally going to have a Queen!" Charon exclaimed as he hugged Hades' forearm.

Persephone smiled as she wrapped her arm around Hades' waist as numerous citizens of the Underworld began exclaiming their congratulations and others began discussing wedding details. Persephone's mind instinctively blocked the chatter out as she glanced up to see Hades' shoot her a quick tender smile, after all they really just had eyes for each other in that moment.

* * *

However, both Hades and Persephone were oblivious to what was happening in the Upperworld, the earth was covered in deep snow. The humans had to leave their homes to seek out a warmer place to stay, but their efforts seemed hopeless. The mortals soon realised that they had no other option but to travel to Eleusis to pray to the goddess Demeter to save them from this tragedy...

The peace of Mount Olympus was disturbed by the sound of a woman sobbing, Aphrodite instinctively left her son in the care of Nephele, one of the cloud nymphs of Mount Olympus. Athena and Ares were disturbed from their heated discussion on war tactics.

"What the heck is that noise?" Apollo said as the noise stopped him from focusing on his music and Artemis quickly shot him a gesture to come with her and find out.

The source of the weeping was of course coming from Queen Hera's room as Demeter confided to her sister. "Oh my Persephone, why did this happen to you." She wailed as Hera wrapped a comforting arm around her older sister's shoulders.

"What's the matter?" Artemis coaxed as she and the other gods entered the room.

Hera shifted slightly so she could face the other gods directly as she answered. "It's been three months since Persephone was abducted by Hades and Demeter hasn't heard anything from her at all during this time. She's really worried.”

Athena was taken aback, "That's weird... I thought that guy was _nice_. To have kidnapped Persephone seems like something that is entirely out of his character."

Ares crossed his arms across his chest, "Well... her daughter's doomed." He gasped.

"I hope he hasn't harmed her, Persephone's so sweet and kind, she doesn't deserved to be harmed." Artemis sniffled.

"The poor girl." Aphrodite mumbled.

Apollo rolled his eyes, "So I guess that's what she gets for not dating me!" He breathed.

The other gods looked at him in shock as Artemis' eyes flashed and she countered her twin brother well, with the wrath of a god, "APOLLO!" She bellowed.

"Sorry..." He responded dryly.

"Hey guys, check this out! My dolphin can do a new trick!" Poseidon gushed as he ran into the room with his pet dolphin, completely unaware of the rooms current mood.”

“Please, not now Uncle Poseidon." Athena replied gently.

Poseidon frowned, "What's going on...?" He queried.

Athena placed her hand on her hips as she answered. "Aunt Demeter is crying because her daughter has been kidnapped."

"No way! Hades told Zeus and I the other day that the plan didn't work so he was going to return the girl."

Demeter's eyes widened in shock. "What did you say?" Poseidon stood still as a statue, his expression was one of a deer caught off guard by lights as he realised what he just let slip out, becoming even more rigid as she quickly approached him and naturally Poseidon almost jumped out of his skin with fear the moment she shrieked.

"You and Zeus... KNOW ABOUT THIS!”

 


End file.
